Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 23, 2020
Date Accepted: Mar 4, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Apr 27, 2021
Leveraging VR/AR to combat chronic pain in youth: Position paper from the Interdisciplinary Network on Virtual and Augmented (AR/VR) Technologies for Pain (INOVATE-Pain) Management
ABSTRACT
Background:
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) interventions are emerging as promising tools in the treatment of pediatric chronic pain conditions, but in this young field there is little consensus to guide the process of engaging in the development and evaluation of targeted VR-based interventions.
Objective:
The INOVATE-Pain consortium aims to advance the field of VR for pediatric chronic pain rehabilitation by providing guidance for best practices in the design, evaluation, and dissemination of VR-based interventions targeting this population.
Methods:
An interdisciplinary meeting of 16 academics, clinicians, industry and philanthropy partners was held in January 2020.
Results:
Reviewing the state of the field, the consortium identified important directions for research-driven innovation in VR/AR clinical care, highlighted key opportunities and challenges facing the field, and established a consensus on best methodological practices to adopt in future efforts to advance the research and practice of VR/AR in pediatric pain. The consortium also identified important next steps to undertake to continue to advance the work in this promising new area of digital health pain interventions.
Conclusions:
To realize the promise of this realm of innovation, key ingredients for the success include productive partnerships among industry, academic, and clinical stakeholders, a uniform set of outcome domains and measures for standardized evaluation, and widespread access to the latest opportunities, tools and resources. The INOVATE-Pain collaborative hopes to promote the creation, rigorous yet efficient evaluation, and dissemination of innovative VR-based interventions to reduce pain and improve quality of life for children.
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